


Iron

by awildlokiappears



Series: Love Lives Free [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: More ficlets to fix things up~!, Nat and Clint Are On A Mission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-06 19:58:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6767989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awildlokiappears/pseuds/awildlokiappears
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, it's okay to be like dear old Dad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Iron

Wakanda wasn't a country that Tony had visited, surprisingly enough; hidden deep in the jungle interior of mainland Africa, he still couldn't get enough of the incredible scenery around him. Because its people were excellant stewards of the land, the diversity of life was utterly astounding...just in the twenty minutes he'd been inside the borders, looking at everything through the eyes of the suit, he'd seen a hundred different species of flora and fauna both, and he followed the Quinjet in a daze, grateful that Rhodey was piloting just fine.

  
He'd really made some incredible headway on his physical therapy; T'Challa was certain that between his and Tony's intellect and his own resources, they'd have Rhodey back to walking sooner, rather than later. Which was incredible news for the whole team: Vision was still deeply apologetic over the strike to War Machine's arc reactor, Sam was beside himself with guilt for ducking like he had, and Tony still had the cold knot of guilt in his heart over all of it. He felt like he ought to take all the blame...though he was grateful that Steve had pulled his fair share. More than his fair share, in fact; he'd made a private apology to Ross, but refused to leave Wakanda for the time being.

  
Had he, he would have been arrested the moment he left the border, and he knew it. They all did; Clint, Sam, Scott, and especially Wanda, were all still fugitives as well...Though they were all rather happy here. And hopefully, they were about to be happier; Tony had asked T'Challa not to tell the rest of the team that he was bringing friends, especially a certain one. Wanda was going to kill him when they landed...

* * *

"Are you sure this is a wise idea, Stark?" Pietro's wry voice was softer now over the radio; the blows to his lungs were still healing, and even with the best tech in the world, he still had a long way to go. How he'd still been alive when they'd gotten to the helicarrier, Tony had no idea. Clearly, the kid was a hell of a lot more amplified then even he'd been led to believe, but the extent of that strength was limited to his speed, endurance, and reflexes. He healed at a slower rate than most people, in fact, and he'd spent most of the last year in and out of stasis, the punches through his chest, abdomen, legs, and arm finally scarred over at last and healed solid, though he walked with a cane and did breathing treatments every day.

  
T'Challa had offered to help him, too, and Tony was grateful, so grateful; he already had plans to do whatever the king wanted for the next, oh, twenty years he had left in this life, because without T'Challa, without Wakanda, they'd all be sitting on the Raft right now, Pietro would be dead, Rhodey would be paralyzed...and very likely, Steve and Bucky would have been executed for high treason. The thought very nearly ill...and he breathed a little easier when the jet started to descend.

  
"...Let's be fair, none of my ideas sound wise, but I think this is the best idea I've had in a long time. And I know how much you miss Wanda."

  
"...you're right about that. Thank you, by the way, for not telling her...I..."

  
"I know, Pietro. I know. You didn't want her hopes to get raised, then shattered all over again."

  
"...She would have utterly lost her mind, I know it, and I...I couldn't bear that it would have been all of you who took her down."

  
"I know, buddy. Alright...we're landing. Let me go first, I'll take the punches." He swooped in before the jet and set down on the landing pad, face plate up, a grin on his face, and stepping out of the suit, he couldn't help laughing as Steve came forward and hugged him tight. The captain set him down with a sheepish smile, and Tony just patted his shoulder. "I missed you too, Capsicle."

  
"You owe me an explaination, shellhead; what's with the Quinjet?" But his eyes were dancing, guessing at the game Tony was playing, and he chuckled, sweeping a hand back as the jet landed, back to them...and carefully, with Peter and Vision's aid, both Rhodey and Pietro came down the ramp, smiling sheepishly. There was a red blur...and Wanda had wrapped her arms around her twin's waist, crying into his chest as he tucked her close, crying himself. Vision stayed with them, supporting both and looking absolutely happy as a clam...and Sam strode forward, offering an arm to help Rhodey.

  
"...I'm so sorry, Rhodey..."

  
"Wilson, if you don't stop apologizing, I swear to god I'm going to jack Tony's suit and kick your ass."

  
"Old man, you look like you could kick my ass in those braces." There was a bark of a laugh at that, and both Steve and Tony watched them all make their way inside, the tension dissolving like the mist around them as the sun rose higher.

  
"...I gotta say, that's the best surprise we've had all year, Tony. How're they both doing?" Tony was a bit relieved that Steve wasn't going to take him to task over Pietro; he hadn't told anyone other than Vision...

  
"Rhodey's doing even better than when I called you a week ago, and he's now able to mostly support himself with the help of that crutch. And Pietro...I am sorry I didn't tell you, but he didn't want anyone to tell Wanda, if he didn't make it the second time around..."

  
"...I had a suspicion, but I wasn't going to tear into you for it; I figured there was an explanation. After all, you kinda didn't shoot me in the foot or the knee when I hared off on my own."

  
"...Well, that was partly because I wanted to beat you upside the head."

  
"Fair enough. So, just to update you, Nat and Clint are getting ready to head up to Siberia."

  
"...I thought we trashed that complex."

  
"We did, but T'Challa was able to get some information out of Zemo when he visited Ross a few days ago. Evidently, to activate Bucky's complete transformation into 'Soldat', Hydra used a book, written by Zola and the other monsters that brainwashed and hurt him, that contained a set of keywords to trigger the cognative reset. Now, Zemo didn't read the whole book, but he told T'Challa that he'd dropped it in the gorge after he set us to try and destroy each other."

  
"I gotcha, so our two master spies are going on the hunt."

  
"Natasha is certain there has to be the reversal phrase in there, either that or the book can lead us to the right facility. She was wracking her brain for every single thing she remembered from the Red Room, and how they did their own brainwashing."

  
"So you guys are planning on basically deprogramming Bucky?"

  
"Considering he requested that he be placed in stasis until we found a way to, yes."

  
"...He did?"

  
"He...didn't trust himself. And...I think that whatever they did to him, they made it so he won't try and kill himself, or let himself be killed."

  
"...Steve...you do realize that he might, once he gets deprogrammed..."

  
"...I know. I...I know. I'm going to do my best to stop it, but if I can't...I...can't say that I blame him. It's going to be hell. Nat remembered...everything. Every kill she made, every person she cut into. Bucky..."

  
"Already does, and he'll be swarmed with seventy five years of memories...we'll help, however you need, Steve."

  
"I know you will...you know...Howard was right."

  
"...About what?"

  
" 'Stark men are made of iron; put them in the right forge, and they come back out in the shape you need them to be.' He hated that he made weapons; he loved designing cars and planes. But, weapons were the big business at the time, and he was a shrewd man. He just hated that he'd been forged into a gun, or a sword...I think that's why he made my weapon a shield." Tony smiled, very softly at that.

  
"...You thought right. I...wasn't as close to my dad as you were; I'll be honest, he and I, it was a rivalry that we never got to fix. But he always told me, when we weren't fighting, just relaxing and working on his hotrods, that the best thing in his life that he'd ever made was that shield. He hoped that though you'd been lost, maybe, just maybe, it was protecting you even in the cold heart of the ocean. And like so many things, he was right. Though I do wonder, what am I? Sword, or gun?" Steve smiled, and leaned in, voice dropping, just a little.

  
"Don't you see, Tony? You were reforged, in Afghanistan, in New York, in Sokovia. You were a gun, then a spear, then a sword...and you know what you are now? You're a _shield_. You deserve that shield, not me. You fight to protect people, first and foremost. You're stronger than iron, now; you're _steel_."


End file.
